"Um, I'm standing right here. Right exactly here."
Made me laugh. The way you said that. I wasn't speaking to you though, but to the question, or implication directed at my conclusion, or how I arrived at it. That's why I spoke about you in the third person. Don't take that wrong. My response was not directed to you, but about how I arrived at my conclusion about you and gaming given the information available.
Yes, gaming is my primary -- but not only -- recreational activity and the means by which I spend about eight to twelve hours a week with my closest friends. Objectively speaking, as much as possible, that doesn't seem excessive to me.
Then my conclusion was accurate. That said however, now that a time frame has been added to the dates given, that is a normal work day, plus overtime, spent gaming, every weekend.
Now spread over two days that's approximately 4 to 6 hours per day.
Since I game, and given the implications you made about multiple players, I know this is not necessarily a huge amount of time spent per game. Assuming a fairly large group of players that is probably moving pretty fast per game. But add in preparation time, etc., and the fact that your weekends are probably the time you would most likely have open for other activities, given your point about working a lot, and I objectively see your girlfriend's point about disapproving. Now she might not disapprove of gaming per se so much as she might kinda disapprove of the time consumed. I don't know that, but it seems a distinct possibility.
Don't get me wrong, because I don't know anything more than what you've said here on this message board, but assuming your expressed the situation correctly from your point of view, and I have no doubt that you did just that, I can still see both your point, and the point of view of your girlfriend. You're mistaken if you assume I'm being disapproving of your actions (if you have made that assumption) but I am trying to give you an objective, non-involved assessment of how you have described the situation. When you say objectively speaking,
that doesn't seem excessive to you, then that is really a subjective conclusion. That is you still being subjective but trying to be as objective as possible from your point of view. And there's nothing wrong with that because it is almost impossible for anyone who is directly involved in any matter to divorce themselves from the matter and be truly objective. That's just being human. I'm not saying it is excessive either, given your situation or the other factors involved (which I don't know), but I can easily see how others could draw that conclusion. It's something to think about anyway, especially from the point of view of your girlfriend. I'm not saying you're right, or wrong, just that everyone has a different idea of excessive, and that might be something worth considering. I'm trying to encourage you to consider the situation from all points of view, because in this particular circumstance I can see how everybody can be partially right, and everyone can be partially wrong.
As to the kids playing I suspect that with the mother it will probably come down to a similar issue, not the game itself but how much time will be spent on it.
So ... how about that local sports team?
They're really nothing to brag about. So I won't bother.
But there's always hope...